Denis Villeneuve’s groundbreaking 2024 sci-fi hit is coming home with Dune: Part Two‘s home release. The sequel served as an adaptation of the second half of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic novel, continuing the story of Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides as he embeds himself with the Fremen after his family was betrayed and murdered by the House Harkonnen. As he learns more of their ways, Paul rises to messianic status among the Arrakis natives and begins his quest to get revenge for the death of his family and bring freedom to the spice-filled planet.

Alongside Chalamet, the ensemble Dune: Part Two cast includes both new and returning stars, namely Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård, Javier Bardem, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, and Christopher Walken. Currently maintaining a 92% “Certified Fresh” approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has surpassed Villeneuve’s already acclaimed original at the box office as well, bringing in over $708 million and currently sitting as the highest-grossing movie of the year.

In addition to its cast, Villeneuve has also reteamed with many of Dune: Part Two‘s behind-the-camera creatives for the sequel, including cinematographer Greig Fraser, who brought home the Oscar for Best Cinematography for the 2021 original. With an increased budget and runtime, the duo takes full advantage of these resources to expand the world of Herbert’s novel in exciting ways, including diving deeper into the Fremen culture, delivering grand-scale action set pieces, and laying the groundwork for future installments.

Ahead of the movie’s home release on May 14, Screen Rant interviewed Greig Fraser to discuss Dune: Part Two, the subtle changes he and Villeneuve made to Arrakis’ appearance in the sequel, Warner Bros.’ initial concerns about the black-and-white Giedi Prime sequence introducing Butler’s Feyd-Rautha and how Anya Taylor-Joy’s Alia cameo sets up the future of the Dune franchise.

The First Dune Was Only “Hinting At” Arrakis’ Wider Scale

Though the first movie was largely set on the desert planet, the majority of its events were set within the fortress of Arrakeen as the Atreides family navigated the political landscape of Arrakis. For Dune: Part Two, Fraser and Villeneuve found themselves getting the chance to better explore the planet, particularly in regard to the local Fremen culture:

Greig Fraser: Well, you’re right, we were hinting at it during Part One, weren’t we? We were hinting at it in the storybook that Paul was reading, were hinting of it as the ornithopter flew in to Arrakeen over the mountains with small little Fremen on the rocks, were hinting at it when Stilgar’s walking. It’s hinted at the whole time, and it’s tantalizing in Part One, because Stilgar walking into that scene with Leto spitting on the desk — what a great scene, what a great character, what a great culture.

So, the ability to be able to get into this culture for Part Two was quite exciting. We talked about it a lot, because it’s kind of on us to almost take on the role of Paul’s vision, as well, where Paul is learning about the Fremen for the first time in the flesh. The same with us, as viewers, we’re learning little tidbits of information about how they deal with their dead, how they suck the water from bodies and put it into the wells.

Just to learn all those little tidbits of information, I think as a viewer, was going to be really fun. So we’ve played upon that, and Patrice’s [Vermette] design of the Sietch was incredible. It was just so much fun, everything we dealt with the Fremen was really fun.

Fraser & Villeneuve Agreed On 1 Key Change To The Sietches

One of the biggest things Fraser and Villeneuve found themselves getting to do with the expansion of Arrakis was getting to dive into the Fremen’s underground network of citadels known as the Sietches. When it came to actually depicting these locations, the duo ultimately came to the realization one change they wanted to make was the way the Sietches were lit, choosing to pull from the more natural light of sun creeping in through cracks in the ceilings rather than solely relying on “glow globes“:

Greig Fraser: It’s a good question, because the Sietches were written in more of an underground cave-type look, where they are lit by glow globes, and they’re a bit more hidden. But we felt like that needed to have a lot more lightness to it, we didn’t want to sort of start the movie and go into a bunker. It felt like we really needed to make sure that there are times they were going to be darkness within this bunker, but it felt like the natural place to be, from a lighting standpoint, was a brighter kind of space. So, we treated the light in there a little bit like we treated the light in the residence, where there was light coming in, but it was coming in through massive holes in or small cracks in the rocks, or from different places.

But it needed to have that kind of lightness to it. So, yeah, between Patrice’s design, and Paul Lambert’s VFX, to extend stuff that was already built, but to make it really feel like that scale was enhanced, it was kind of up to me to put light in it and not screw it up. Because it was such beautiful sets, the construction and design on this was pretty amazing. Every time I walked into a new set, it was always mind-blowing. Just to make sure I recorded it properly, the pressure was on me at that point.

Depicting House Harkonnen’s Homeworld Drew Some Early Concerns From WB

In addition to Arrakis and the Fremen, the world of Dune: Part Two goes a long way to fleshing out the House Harkonnen and their impact on Arrakeen after taking it over from the Atreides. Though Fraser notes they weren’t consciously thinking of major changes to the lighting and sets, they did look to highlight this change from “a design standpoint“:

Greig Fraser: Well, from a design standpoint, definitely, because it was like they brought their own stuff back in. Brought their own kind of coffee makers, etc., etc., which is all very Harkonnen. Lighting wise, it was a conscious choice, but I don’t know exactly what we did to make that happen. I can’t point to specifics. We didn’t change the type of lighting, it was more about how much light we ended up allowing to be on the set.

It was like how much we allowed to take away, as well. Because one thing about the Harkonnen is that they are, for the most part, bald headed. They do allow me to light with less light and see shapes, which is a really handy thing, because hair takes away a lot of light. So, having white bald heads allowed me a lot more flexibility to go darker.

When it came to also expanding on the Harkonnen’s homeworld of Giedi Prime, Villeneuve, and Fraser were very keen to offer a stylish upgrade with its black-and-white appearance in Feyd-Rautha’s introduction. But despite their creative ambition for the sequence, the duo’s biggest hurdle wasn’t the technological side of its filming, but rather WB’s concerns about whether this would connect with viewers:

Greig Fraser: For us, that was the first shoot that we were doing onstage, that was the first thing we were going to be shooting for the main photography. So, we did a bit of pre-shooting in Italy with Florence and Charlotte, we had done a couple of days pre-shooting, but this is the first real shoot that we were gonna be doing onstage that was going to be shown to the studio. It was a bit of a bold step that we decided to shoot in this format, because the worry was that, effectively, people who were not there would watch this footage and go, “What the heck is that?” Suddenly, we’re on phone calls going, “Can we fix that? Can we fix it in post? Can we add color? How do we resolve this?”

But we made a choice and just went, “Well, we’ve made a choice. It’s black and white, no color, we can’t make it color. There’s no way back. We’ve made a choice, and we’re going one way.” So that, for me, was probably the biggest — I wouldn’t say challenge, the biggest consideration, where we had no way home. All those choices that you make on a movie, you can kind of braid your way out of it, you can resolve it back color wise, or you can cut your way out of it. This left us exposed, figuratively and literally, where there’s no way we could change this later if we decided that was a bad idea.

So, we just went for it. I am [glad we stuck to our guns], too. I am too, because there was a period of time where maybe we weren’t going to do that. Instincts are a funny thing, because your heart says something, and then your brain says something else, and our brains both were going, “We shouldn’t be doing this,” but our hearts were like, “We got to do this.” So yes, I think you’re right, we followed the heart, not the head.

Alia’s Introduction Holds Major Foreshadowing For Dune 3

One of the biggest secrets held in Dune: Part Two right up until its premiere was the casting of Anya Taylor-Joy as Alia, the daughter of Duke Leto Atreides and Lady Jessica and Paul’s sister, who is born with the prophetic abilities of an adult Bene Gesserit and a key figure in the Atreides’ future. Fraser was thrilled that Taylor-Joy’s cameo remained a secret as long as it did, and though keeping mum on just how much this sets up Dune: Messiah, the cinematographer did confirm the scene is meant to foreshadow how the character “bridges two worlds” between Arrakis and Calladan:

Greig Fraser: Maybe? I don’t know. I mean, I say that, I’m being coy. But yes, of course, anybody who knows what’s in store in the future knows maybe, maybe, maybe. But you’re right, it bridges two worlds, that’s exactly the point of it is it bridges two worlds, and that character bridges those worlds. And Paul’s journey bridges those worlds, he’s come from [Calladan], there’s a big underlying message that goes along with those waves. And yeah, putting Alia in there, as well, it’s beautiful.

And I must say, it was a really well-kept secret, and I’m really proud of my crew, because we shot that with a small reduced unit. We all went to Namibia together as a small group, and shot that, it was a little bit under the radar. But, Denis and I said to all my team and all their team, “We would love it if no one talked about this.” And none of us did. It was great it didn’t get out. It’s hard to keep a secret in Hollywood, it’s really hard. People talk, and no one did.

About Dune: Part Two

“Dune: Part Two” will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a path of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.

Check out our other Dune: Part 2 interviews:

• Zendaya & Florence Pugh
• Timothée Chalamet & Austin Butler
• Stellan Skarsgård
• Denis Villeneuve
• Rebecca Ferguson
• Dave Bautista

Source: Screen Rant Plus